


Just Keep Swimming

by Stratagem



Series: Lion Cub [14]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Drama, F/M, Gen, Near Drowning Experience, Shallura Kid - Freeform, Shallura baby, future shallura family, it was happy, shiro angst, then it wasn't
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-10
Updated: 2017-05-10
Packaged: 2018-10-30 06:41:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,037
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10871235
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stratagem/pseuds/Stratagem
Summary: A day at the beach starts out playful and fluffy but when Shiro and Allura can't find their daughter, it rapidly becomes one of the most terrifying days of their lives.





	Just Keep Swimming

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own Voltron!
> 
> A/N: It started out uber fluffy and then turned dramatic?! Anywho futureShallurakid Emi is 8 in this one.

"Is everyone wearing sunscreen?"

Why did he even bother. No one heard Shiro because the instant they reached the beach sand and the ocean was fully visible, they were all gone.

"Last one in is a Quasillian sticky slug!" roared Lance as he sprinted for the waves.

He and Keith were in a footrace to get to the surf because being adulting was dumb while Pidge and Hunk followed behind at a slightly slower speed. Emi and Allura had shot after them, with Emi catching a piggyback ride from her mother.

"I'm wearing a perfect amount of sunscreen, Number One."

Okay, almost everyone had taken off. Coran was still beside him, wearing a weird 1920s-looking swimsuit and holding a cooler, a chair and a bag. The Altean was completely covered head-to-toe in a thick layer of homemade blue sunscreen, which he swore was better than anything Earth had to offer. All of the gear that the others had been carrying had been discarded in a heap on the dunes when the rest of his team and family abandoned all responsibility to jump into the ocean.

It had been a very long month, and everyone needed a break. Teyu, the planet they were on, had been dealing with a blockade by a neighboring planet, Desrol, and they had asked Allura to come and mediate a settlement between the two planets. Forces from Desrol had attacked Teyu during the negotiations, and eventually the paladins had had to use the lions to break up the blockade. It had been a tense month-long situation, one that required a lot of diplomacy and talking as well as fighting, but it seemed that a treaty had finally been agreed on.

With the two planets on stable political ground again, the Voltron team had decided to take some well-deserved time off. Shiro really just wanted to spend some quality time with his family since he felt like he had been neglecting them.

Down by the water, Emi and Allura had stopped and were looking back toward the dunes. At the same time, they cupped their hands around their mouths and yelled.

"Daddyyyy!"

"Takashiiii!"

"Better go down there," Coran said. He was already setting up their 'camp,' putting up the massive umbrella and spreading out a blanket. "I'll fix up everything here in a jiff."

"Thanks, Coran," Shiro said. He pulled off his shirt and headed down to the water. Halfway there, he picked up speed, aiming right for Allura.

"Shiro," Allura said warningly, holding up her hands. She took a couple steps back and then stubbornly held her ground when he didn't slow down. "Shiro, no, don't you dare!"

Oh, yes, he did too dare. Grabbing her around the middle, he hauled Allura into the air and put her over his shoulder, wading right into the water. She was laughing and trying to hold onto his arm, but hah, _he_ had worn sunscreen so he was slick and slippery.

"Think about what you're doing," Allura said, a playfully scolding tone to her voice, "Make wise choices."

"Sorry, but I'm not sorry," he said, smirking. When he was up to his waist, he pulled her down from his shoulder, stole a kiss from her laughing mouth, then launched her into the water. She resurfaced with a grin and started coming toward him, prompting him to get moving before she could get retribution.

He turned around, locking eyes on his daughter. "Your turn."

She shrieked and took off down the beach in anticipation, splashing through the very edge of the water. However, she didn't get very far.

"Gotcha!" Hunk exclaimed as he caught the spritely eight-year-old as she tried to get past him and bear-hugged her. She squirmed and wriggled and tried to escape, but it was useless. She was totally stuck. "Hey, Shiro, you looking for this?"

"Hunk, let me go!" she demanded.

"No way. You shall never escape!"

Shiro chuckled and walked out of the ocean, or at least he tried to. Something grabbed his foot and quickly yanked, causing him to lose his balance when a wave hit. He fell over and caught a wave with his face before coming back up to the surface.

Allura stood beside him, her hands on her hips, a challenge on her face. "I told you to make wise choices."

"I don't always think straight when it comes to you," he said, laying on the cheese.

Allura laughed. "Did you really say that?"

He grinned. "Did you like it?"

"Let's just say I like the idea of it."

Meanwhile Hunk had waded out into the water with Emi, and now he and Keith were taking turns tossing her into the waves. Pidge was floating on the boogieboard she had made yesterday and watching the game of who-can-toss-the-kid-the-farthest. Hunk was obviously winning. Lance bobbed out a little farther in the water, treading water and playing lifeguard in case a rip current snatched at Emi or Pidge or anyone else, really. They had been warned by the locals that the rip tide could be very nasty, though if they were careful, it should be fine.

"Higher, Uncle Keith!" Emi squealed.

"What was that? I couldn't hear you, it sounded like a lot of squeaking."

"Come oooon."

He responded by launching her straight up into the air, and she landed in a cannonball next to Pidge.

Shiro and Allura waded over to the others, taking their time, enjoying each other's company. When Emi saw them, she spun out of Keith's grasp and swam over to them. Shiro plucked her out of the water and rested her on his hip, and she looped her arms around his neck, resting against his shoulder.

"Hey, Dad."

"Hey, Nezumi-chan."

She lifted her head and grinned over at Allura. "Can you show me how to morph web-hands, Mum?"

"We can work on it when we get back to the beach," Allura said. She reached over and pushed a rogue strand of hair back away from Emi's face.

The paladins, Allura, and Emi played out in the waves until the sun and hunger drove them back to the shore and Camp Coran, as the red-headed Altean was calling it. He had gone all out with a tent, two umbrellas, a hammock stretched between two scrubby trees, and the cooler that was actually a mini-fridge. There were chairs and towels and blankets, and everyone descended on the sandwiches that Hunk had made for them that morning.

"A fan!" Pidge said before plopping down in front of the massive solar-powered fan. Her wild long brown hair flared out behind her as she closed her eyes and enjoyed the manufactured breeze.

"Everyone better reapply sunscreen before they go back out," Shiro said. He was underneath one of the umbrellas with Allura, sitting shoulder to shoulder with her. The team looked like they were finally relaxing after the stressful past weeks, which made him relieved.

"I'm taking a nap before I go back out," Lance said. He saluted the others and dropped into the hammock, leaving one leg out so he could gently rock it back and forth.

"That does sound rather appealing," Allura said, letting her head fall against Shiro's shoulder. Emi was already dosing behind them, curled up on a pile of beach towels.

Hunk and Pidge elected to go to the local pier and check out the fishing instead of sleeping, and they convinced Coran to go with them. Soon enough, the whole remaining crew was lulled to sleep by the heat and the steady crash of waves against the shore.

Shiro was deep into his nap when Black's thoughts burst into his dream, letting out a roar and a strong sense of danger linked with Emi's name. Shiro shot awake, as did Allura, and they both turned to where Emi had been sleeping.

She was gone.

Her footprints headed toward the ocean, but there was no sign of a black-and-white haired head in the water.

Allura took off for the water while Shiro scrambled to his feet and frantically looked around the beach. "Emi!" he shouted. He didn't see her, where was she— "Keith, Lance, wake up!" he yelled, not bothering to mask his panic.

"Wha—what's wrong?" Lance said, making the jump from asleep to awareness quicker than usual due to the fear in Shiro's voice. He rolled out of the hammock and landed on his feet, looking like he was ready for a fight. Keith was up and at Shiro's side a second later.

"Emi's missing. I can't— Help me. Do you see her anywhere?"

She wouldn't go in the water, would she? No, she wouldn't, she couldn't have done that, not when he and Allura and Lance and everyone had warned her again and again that she shouldn't swim by herself. Ever. She must have gone to find Hunk and Pidge and Coran and made the childish mistake of not telling anyone.

But Emi was headstrong. _Can you show me how to morph web-hands?_ And confident. If she had thought she could swim even against the current…

Keith started running down the beach, yelling Emi's name, while Lance raced toward the water and Allura, following Emi's footsteps. Shiro tried to crush the horrible, sick feeling in his chest, the one that was rending his heart, and started off in the opposite direction of Keith.

She was fine, she was all right, his girl was okay…

An image from Black exploded in his mind, a flashing glimpse of blue and green swirling and a feeling of being unable to escape. Trapped underwater. Black was using the connection she had made with Emi, which meant—

Shiro turned and bolted for the ocean, calling to Allura. She must have seen the same images, Black was connected to both of them. He would never forget the horrified look on Allura's face before she dove down into the waves, followed by Lance.

Crashing into the waves, Shiro fought the fear that was trying to cripple him and dove in the next wave, opening his eyes. Nothing, nothing, where was she— A need for air drove him to the surface, and he saw Keith rushing into the water.

Lance broke through the water farther out to sea, and Shiro's heart almost gave out. He had her, but she was limp, her head lolling as Lance swam back toward them. Allura cried out, a wordless sound that tore into Shiro as they both moved toward Lance.

The younger paladin's blue eyes were wild as he handed Emi off to him. "Shiro, Shiro, she's not breathing—"

Shiro cradled Emi to his chest and pressed his fingers to her neck as he hurried out of the water. A faint, fluttery beat brushed against his fingers.

"She has a pulse," he told Allura in a rush as he laid their daughter down on the shore and started CPR.

Lance sat down in the surf and put his head in his hands, his eyes on the youngest member of their Voltron family.

"Please," Allura said, repeating the word over and over under her breath.

Keith dropped down next to them and shoved his hands back through his hair. "Come on, kiddo…"

Shiro tuned everything out and focused. After a couple rescue breaths, Emi coughed and gasped, spitting up saltwater as she started crying. Weak with relief, Shiro turned her to her side, patting her back. "It's okay, it's all right, calm down, get it out," he said, mostly for Emi's sake but also for himself and Allura.

When she finished vomiting up seawater, Emi was scooped up by Allura, and Shiro grabbed both to pull them close.

"Thank you, Lance," he said, glancing up from Allura and Emi.

Lance let out a giant sigh and dropped into the sand, giving them a thumbs up from the ground.

Keith reached over and patted him on the shoulder. "You did good."

Shiro pulled Allura and Emi as close as possible, his hand cupping the back of Emi's head as she sobbed. Maybe he would just stay like this forever, holding the two people who were most precious to him.

If he didn't, his daughter might make the rest of his hair white before she was ten.


End file.
